Tuesday, May 20, 2014

My novel about Emily Dickinson and
her Irish maid, Miss Emily, comes out next year in the USA and Canada
with Penguin. My interest in the poet stems from school, then more recently
from baking* too. So here is Emily Dickinson's recipe for gingerbread which I
made last week for my ex-husband's birthday 'do'. This recipe was adapted by
people who work in the Dickinson Homestead Museum and I have further adapted it
for Irish measurements and to make a smaller cake.

This is not a sweet cake - the lack of sugar and the dark treacle make it a
little tart. But the dusting of icing sugar and the cream were a perfect
addition to it. A sweet yogurt would do the same work. I used a round 8"
tin.